Cordless Recipricating Saws

[ME93]

No to long ago we had a training on a school bus extrication. Our porter cable tiger saws did an alright job cutting. A mutual aid dept brought a cordless dewalt saw and I must say I wasn't to impressed. Now, I know the gauge metal that is used on school buses (in some areas) is much thicker than the average car.

Anyway, if your dept is using cordless saws let me know if they are really worth it.

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Fishers Fire Dept.
FF/Medic
Local 416

[F52 Westside]

I guess my 1st question would be, "Was it a 24 volt or 18 volt?", We had a bus extrication class in April of this year. A DeWalt salesman brought out an 18 and 24 volt. The 18 did ok, but the 24 was the "bomb". We have since purchased one and should be purchasing 2 more at the beginning of the new year. The have worked well for us in a few extrications. Not to mention that the cordless is so much easier to use, no cord setup or generator necessary. Our unit also has the backup corded pack if for some reason the batteries get used up. We used a couple of different blades. The DeWalt blades held upto bending better than the Lenox that we use.

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Eddie C. - a.k.a - PTFD21
Local 3008
"Doin' it for lives n' property"

[86Rescuetech]

Cordless saws are good for one thing. If everything else goes wrong. Plain and simple. We use Sawzalls as our primary tool. We have six corded and one battery backup unit. When we went to use the backup, it lasted 3 minutes. The problem with tem is the battery memory. If they sit, they drain. The Dewalt is probably the best of the battery units. Take a look at the new Milwaukee Orbital Sawzall. It is electric but it cuts like crazy. Be safe

[MetalMedic]

DeWalt 24V Cordless saw... don't leave home without it!


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Richard Nester
Orrville (OH) Fire Dept.

[Engine 224]

86Rescuetech, battery memory is NOT the problem. If the battery went dead in 3 minutes it was almost dead to start with. Do not store the batttery attached to the saw. DeWalt doesn't recommend it. Get a vehicle charger and store the battery in the charger.

Having said all of the above, of course the battery units don't compare to the AC powered ones. Use the battery unit while you are setting up the AC powered one.

Bottom line:
1. This is a first off tool not a back up. 2. If you are only going to get ONE saw - get the AC version - it will handle a school bus, the battery version won't.

Also, don't even think about taking on a school bus without the heavy duty (i.e.thicker) saw blades. Home Depot is now selling DeWalt "Demolition Blades" in some of their stores. No more waiting a couple of weeks for special orders or mail orders!

All of the above and more was covered in a three part series in Firehouse Magazine a few months ago.

[tfd603]

Dewalt 24 volt. Firefighters actually had a say in the way the saw was made and its great features. The Best by far.

[LFD68]

Yes, they are worth it.
DeWalt has been doing promos with the 24V at Lowe's stores in which two Departments race to cut two cars in HALF.
Cars are cribbed on cinderblocks, and already have the driveshafts removed.
Water spray bottles are used to keep blades cool. Blades must be changed a couple (or so)times. The fastest time so far I had overheard was 1:53 seconds. The best part of all is that DeWalt DONATES the saws whether a dept. wins or not! These saws are
certainly valueable tools, but never forget
the value of a good high-tension hacksaw.
(If, God forbid, your power tools fail.)
Be S.A.F.E. -Gabby

[philip publicover]

I agree with ENG 224, AC is necessary for long duration operations. When we were deciding what type of saws to purchase we looked at the problems associated with maintaining the batteries. We felt that we could not ensure that the batteries would be cared for properly given the few extrication that we do. The choice of saw is only half of the question though.

The BLADE choice determines how well the the total package performs. After testing a number of manufacturers blades we settled on the Lawson FIRE-RESCUE blade as our general purpose blade of choice. It comes in 6" length only and has a variable 10-14 tpi. This blade will consistently cut the side impact beams in new cars. These boron steel bars are capable of damaging older hydraulic cutters due to their high strength. In addition we use the Lenox 960R for heavy cutting of sheet metal. we also carry the Miluakee Ax demolition blade with a 5-8 variable tpi for cutting wood and plastic. The aggresive teeth clear the plastic from dasboards.

We operate with a Dewalt Quik Change DW 309 10 amp saw and an older Dewalt 6 amp saw. Both function well, but the 10 amp has a larger grip allowing for operation with a gloved hand.

Hope this helps.

Train Hard, and Train Safe

[DEWALT]

As the Content Manager for www.DEWALT.com, I find this message string particularly interesting. I would like to recommend that if you have questions about the DEWALT 24 Volt Recip saw for Extrication, that you visit our web-site to check out some excerpts of a video made by Ron Moore. Visit: http://www.dewalt.com/us/events/fire_rescue/

Thanks, DEWALT Fire & Rescue

[Cain]

Has anybody has experience (good or bad) with cordless saws in very cold weather. We are thinking of buying one but are worried that prolonged exposure to the cold will affect the battery performance. Thanks.

[F52 Westside]

For Cain - We had a pin-in that we used our DeWalt cordless on, and it died in just a few minutes. The Rescue had been sitting outside for awhile. We are not sure this was the cause or if it was not charged recently enough. We had purchased the AC converter for it so it did not pose a problem, other than stretching an extension cord.

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Eddie C. - a.k.a - PTFD21
ECarn21's Homefire Page
Local 3008
"Doin' it for lives n' property"

[Carl Avery]

One more Quick comment, some one mentioned the Blade was key and that is TRUE, but one thing to Look at with ALL saws is the lenghth of Stroke. This has an impact on Blade Life too. One of the things I do Like about the 24 is the moveable foot plate. this feature can lengthen Blade Life (with a knowledgable operator) By moving the foot plate you can change where the wear is taking place on the blade.

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Rescue is the Art & Science of matching your tools, talents and tricks to needs of our customers!
Carl D. Avery

[efdemt]

We use the DeWalt DW938 recip saw and are very satisfied. We keep 3 batteries charged at all times and have a 12 volt charger in our rescue vehicle in case we need it. The 18v batteries will run hard for about 6-8 minutes usually enough time to cut the roof off of a normal passenger car and only use 1 blade even through the windshield. We also purchased a DW908 18v light which is great and uses the same batteries. We bought all of this from www.tylertool.com and they usually have everything in stock including the demolition blades which are sometimes hard to find. I hear they are starting to make a carbide tipped nail eater circular saw blade for the DeWalt cordless 6-1/2" saw. This may be the ticket for structural roof ventilation.

[[email protected]]

Milwaukee cordless Sawz-all. Works great on windshields. Cuts "A" and "B" posts well also. Keep extra batteries.

BobD

[Carl Avery]

BTW, a short while ago I recieved the training tape that is offered throught the DeWalt Website! It is a very imformative tape made with the assistance of our forem moderator! Check out www.dewalt.com/us/events/fire_rescue/ This is a good asset of a website and will give you access to securing the tape! It is worth your time to check out

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Rescue is the Art & Science of matching your tools, talents and tricks to needs of our customers!
Carl D. Avery